HOW TO MASTER WORKING FROM HOME // STRATEGY, BRANDING, + WEB DESIGN BY XXOBRI.COM

"I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can't truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles."

-Zig Ziglar

Kids are fighting, pets are hungry, your phone is ringing, the house is dirty and you still have work to do.

One of the most common struggles I see my tribe often struggling with is how to find a true sense of balancing home & work when they are working from home!

It can be hard to stay motivated when you don’t have the structure of a day at the office to base your tasks around! And life happens-- even more so when you're at home in the middle of it!

So I wanted to share a few tips to help you master staying motivated + focused when working from home!

➕Structure. Build some structure into your day. Each evening make a realistic to-do list for the next day and make sure all tasks are accomplished. Make sure you sign in and sign out each day. You may return to your computer to do some extra work once you have signed out, but do not answer the phone or check your e-mail during this time.

➕Set goals. When you plan your day, do so in terms of tasks rather than time. It is better to set a goal of completing three posts, than a goal of spending two hours on content writing. If you finish your task early then that is a bonus, you can either get some extra work done or knock off early.

➕Family matters. Consider the needs of your family; just because you are working they can’t act as if you are not there at all. Set some rules as to when they can disturb you while you are working and when they can not. Your son needing transport to the emergency room is of course a good time to interrupt, but if he has kicked his football over next door then he can wait until dinnertime.

➕Regular working hours. Make sure your neighbors and friends are aware of your working hours and respect them. Many people equate ‘always at home’ with ‘always available’ and if you are not careful you will lose a lot of work hours to drinking coffee and doing favors for well meaning neighbors.

➕Realistic commitments. Motivate yourself with realistic commitments. When you first start out with your own business you may not have many actual deadlines, so it is a good idea to set your own. Committing to a weekly newsletter or daily blog posting can help you to add structure to your working week. Once you get established the deadlines will begin rolling in so make the most of it.

➕Regular breaks. Plan regular breaks outside of the house. Working and living in the same building can give you cabin fever if you are not careful. Without the enforced lunch break you might get in an office you could find you have been at the computer without a pause for the whole day. Finding an excuse to get our each day, even if it is just to go the store to buy fresh vegetables for dinner, will save your sanity and keep you from getting obsessed with work.

➕Trial period. Give yourself a trial period. Working from home is not for everybody, you may find you prefer the structure and the social aspects of working in an office and that may mean you choose to eventually set up an office away from home. If you try working from home for say six months, that should be enough time to make sure it is right for you.

What may work for others may not for you. Take your personality and needs into account when you’re setting up your day to day business life. Some people choose to sleep during part of their day and take care of work in the evening when the house is quiet and the family is asleep. Obviously that won’t work for everyone. The point is to find a structure and process that works for you. This way, when the going gets tough, you have a structure to fall back on.

There’s nothing more challenging or rewarding than being an entrepreneur!

It is a life faced with fantastic dreams and goals and filled with the inevitable disappointments, challenges, and occasional failures. Successful entrepreneurs press on despite the tough times. Pressing on, maintaining a positive attitude is the key to achieving real success both as an entrepreneur and in your life.

You know that you have what it takes to reach your dreams-- now it's time to make it happen!

Let me know what your biggest struggles are with working from home in the comments below!